


The fear of loosing you

by DawnDoe



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blackmail, Break Up, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Drama, Drama & Romance, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Heartbreak, Hostage Situations, Implied Relationships, Kidnapping, Lesbian Character, dramatical - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-06 22:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14067270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnDoe/pseuds/DawnDoe
Summary: Being a hero can be a great pressure. Not only on the hero but on their loved ones as well as Lena aka "Tracer" soon experiences. Dealing with that pressure and the danger it puts her loved ones in is even more difficult than just shooting up and locking in the bad guys.





	1. Breaking my heart

**Author's Note:**

> This work is dedicated to my love who always keeps up with me being overly dramatic and hopelessly romantic while not being able to deal with any show of romantic affection. You keep me going. Thank you <3

“I’ll be off then!” Lena threw her old duffle bag over her shoulder, flinching a little as it hit her broken arm. The cast was supposed to come off in two days, but she still felt sensitive to each movement she made with that arm.

The broken bone had healed fast and Angela had scolded her more than once about not keeping it completely still or the cast would have gotten off a week earlier. But well she had had worse and it happened in order to save a life, so it was worth it and in two weeks’ time she was allowed to finally go on missions again.

“Lena” she turned around. Emily stood in the door to their bathroom. They had moved in together almost a year ago, but Lena had been staying way too often in her rooms at the Overwatch quarters. The last weeks had been a blessing to spend some time with each other, although Emily had started acting weird some time ago, worrying Lena if she might get sick.

“Can I…“ Emily averted her gaze, taking a deep breath. “Are you alright?” Lena let her bag slump back to the ground, walking up to her girlfriend, brushing away a strand of soft, copper hair. She loved that colour, the way the light broke in it, letting it shimmer and shine with an almost red golden glow. Emily backed away, still starring to the ground: “I… I need to talk with you”

Lena felt her chest tighten, a bad feeling creeping in her heart: “Sure? Do I need to worry?”

After seconds which seemed like hours Emily finally looked up, her normally warm hazel eyes glistening with tears: “I… I can’t do this anymore”

Lena felt a tear going through her chest like her heart just cracked a little. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe she would just ask her to stay here and not go back. She could do that. She was sure she could. She wasn’t allowed to go on missions anyway. It would need some explaining and discussion with Jack but she was sure she could stay here if just-

“I can’t… I can’t watch you go on another mission.” Emilys voice started to tremble. She bit her lip as she had done so often before. “Emily-“ Lena reached out to her, wanting to wipe away the tears, needing to see her smile again, her heart beating loudly in her chest, painfully pounding against her ribcage. She refused to cry. They could find a way. Some way with which Emily would be fine. With which she would smile again that would stop the tears. Something-

The sound of Emily slapping her hand away hurt more than the actual hit. Emily wrapped her arms around her body, averting her eyes again, big tears rolling down her cheeks, dripping to the ground, her voice trembling, merely a whisper: “I can’t do this anymore. Not knowing when you will return. Not knowing if you will return. Sitting here at home, watching the news, checking my phone each five seconds, hoping for everything, anything that could show me that you are still alive… I just-“ her voice broke as she started heavily sobbing, her hands clawing into her shirt.

“Please, Emily” she felt the tears dwelling up inside her, the tear in her heart eating away at it, getting broader and deeper with every word. It hurt.

“This isn’t working.” Emily looked up at her, her face wet from tears but her eyes were dry, determined… hard: “I can’t make this work anymore. That’s why-“

  
“Don’t-” Lena stood there, her hand stretched out, trying to reach for Emily but she seemed so far away- endlessly far away: “Please don’t” 

“I’m breaking up with you.”

Her world shattered with a loud crash, her heart bursting into a thousand little shards, hurting, pounding, burning, cutting through her chest. She felt a single tear running down her cheek, dripping on the cast on her arm, leaving a dark mark on it.

“Why?” she heard herself ask, even though Emily had just explained it to her. “Why. I- Emily- Please” her chest hurt.

Emily took a step back, out of Lenas reach, away from her outstretched hand: “Please Lena. Just leave.”

It was like a direct hit. A slap across her heart, leaving it red and bleeding and pounding in her chest. Her hand fell, losing any strength to reach out, grasp Emily, take her hand, talk to her, anything.

“I don’t understand- “ Lena whispered, unable to look at Emily anymore, her eyes blindly starring at the ground. “We can talk about this. We always have. Where is this coming from. We can talk about this.” She realized she was repeating herself but maybe Emily would understand, change her mind, laugh and apologize that it was a bad joke. Anything-

“Please Lena. Just- “

“I can’t!” Lena was screaming, tears running down her face: “I don’t get it! What have I done wrong?! Why won’t you talk to me?! Why?! I- “ the floor to her feet was blurry under her tears.

Emily shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her arms wrapped around her, protective, keeping herself together. Even through her tears Lena could see how her eyes got dark like they always got when she decided on something.

“I can’t. I’m sorry Lena. Just go.” She took a step back and, before Lena could do anything, blink to her, say another word, grab her hand, she shut the door in front of her.

The sound of the wood closing, the lock clicking echoed through her heart. The door seemed to grow bigger in front of her, surrounded by a lingering darkness. A dull pain crept from her arm up to her shoulder, spreading through her body before she realized she had hit the door with her broken arm.

The pain and the sound of her love sobbing behind the door let her snap out of it. She was behaving ridiculous and possessive, scary as the monsters she would give her life to fight against. There was no reason… just…

Her hands unclenched, all strength lost, starring at the door. Once again she raised her hand, her fingers stopping inches before the wood.

_Please let us talk about this_.

She backed away, her hand searching for the dropped duffle back.

_I’ll do everything, please explain it to me._

Shouldering her bag, she turned away from the door, towards the entrance.

_I’m sure I can better myself. Find another job perhaps._

The door didn’t creak, just swung open silently. Her fingers clenched around the keys, letting them hover over the board where they kept them normally, before putting them in the pocket of her jacket.

_I don’t get it._

The door closed silently behind her, leaving her standing in the floor in front of their shared apartment.

_You don’t love me anymore, don’t you?_

Her steps sounded hollow on the stairs. She could have taken the elevator, but Emily insisted on the both of them taking the stairs to keep fit.

_We can talk about it. I’m sure._

The doors of the apartment complex closed behind her, only a slim roof protecting her from the outside. It had started to rain. How fitting.

_Please take me back._

Her feet knew the way, the water hitting her face, drenching her hair, her jacket and her back, washing away her tears, replacing it with the heavens own version of them.

_I still love you._

Lena didn’t look back, the complex was too far away, hidden behind other buildings and street corners. The grey sky consumed her thoughts, hiding the sun behind its thick clouds, dimming the lights of Londons streets, water slowly creeping in her shoes, making her socks soggy.

“Lena?”

She bumped against someone and the rain stopped. She looked up, her eyes following a soft, white wool coat, closed with simple buttons, up to an orange scarf, ending at two blue eyes, looking at her, worried and a little irritated: “Are you alright?”

She noticed Angela holding an umbrella above them. That was what had stopped the rain, Fareeha standing next to her, hands buried deep in the pockets of her jacket, her dark eyes watching her carefully. “I don’t- “ Lena whispered, suddenly feeling very cold.

Her bag slipped from her shoulder, her legs giving way under her, the only thing keeping her from falling being Fareehas quick reactions, wrapping one arm around her waist while pulling Lenas healthy arm around her shoulders.

Cool fingers touched her forehead. “She got a fever.” Someone said.  The world around her started spinning, someone half carrying half pulling her somewhere she could sit, the city moving past her, the grey sky eating away at it, slowly painting over its reality as it turned everything grey and blurred the rest.

 

~*~

 

Lena awoke in a large, warm bed. The room was filled with a soft dim light, a window leading out to the Thames, slowly rising as the rain filled it with more water.

Lena didn’t know how she got here. She faintly remembered running into Angela but after that – and before… she felt a knot in her throat.

“How are you?” 

Lena almost jumped up, her head spinning, forcing her to lie back down as she spotted Fareeha, sitting in a comfortable chair, a book in her hands, eyeing her. “Fine-“ she let herself slump back into the pillows: “A little dizzy.”

Fareeha nodded, standing up: “I’ll go get Angela. She is talking to Jack to inform him that you are with us and have a leave of absence as long as you are sick.” Lena wasn’t able to do more than nod before Fareeha left the room. She counted the ships on the river to fourteen before the door opened again and Angela entered the room. The blond doctor belonged to the core of Overwatch and was one of the few people who knew all of Lenas backstory.

“How are you?” she asked, her slight German accent sounding harsh to Lenas ears, but she knew that the woman in front of her was one of the most caring persons she ever met. “Fine. A little dizzy.”

Angela nodded: “You still have a slight fever, but it has gone down.”

“How long have I-”

“Only about two hours.” Angela sat down on the bed next to her, giving her a small smile: “Want to tell me why you’ve been wandering off in the rain? You must have been out there for quite some time.”

Lena averted her eyes, feeling the tears rising again. She didn’t want to cry again even less letting Angela see her like this.

“Are you hurt?” Angelas voice was soft, breaking the brittle wall Lena tried to hide her pain behind. Thick tears started rolling down her cheeks, leaving dark marks on the sheets, each perfect and round, a single one glistening on her clenched hand like a small diamond.

From the corner of her eye she saw Angela raising a hand, carefully placing it on hers: “Do you want to talk about it?” Lena shook her head, still trying to stop the tears from flowing but her efforts were to no avail. “I’ll get you something to eat.”

Lena heard the door closing behind the doctor before she started heavily sobbing, burring her face in her hands, pulling her legs to her chest. She still felt the tear Emily had ripped into her heart, burning and pounding in her chest. If she only could understand why. They had talked about this a million times, most of them her worrying that Emily might not be okay with her work and each time she said it was alright. Why now-

The door creaked as it opened again, Lena hastily wiping away her tears as Angela came back with a tray in her hands. Placing it on a nightstand she sat down on the bed again: “If you want to talk, I’ll be here. If you don’t, that’s fine too. I talked to Jack again and you are off from work for the next week unless I say so. So whatever you need to do, you have enough time.” She smiled, laying one finger on her lips: “Just don’t tell Jack.”

This made her smile before she looked down on her hands again, one still partly hidden behind a cast, the other slightly shaking. “Just come out when you feel ready. You can freely use the shower and whatever you need. Fareeha and I will need to go to work soon so you’ll have the flat for you alone until we return. Keys are on the cupboard if you need them.” Angela stood up, turning, about to leave the room.

“Emily broke up with me.”, her voice wasn’t much more than a whisper. She heard the shuffling of Angelas clothes as she turned around, not wanting to face her: “She said she couldn’t be together with me as she always worries about me being okay.” She felt the tears rolling down her cheeks again.

“Haven’t the two of you ever talked about this?” Angela still stood next to the door and she was thankful for her keeping her distance right now. “We have. More than once.” Lena gathered all her strength before she looked up: “I don’t understand-“ she choked, fighting for every word between the tears: “We always found a way. It was so sudden. She didn’t even let me talk to her. I-“ her voice broke as she started sobbing.

Angela waited for her to calm down: “Is that the reason you walked through the rain?” Lena nodded, unable to speak, her heart painfully pounding inside her chest, the tear deepening with each second, she had time to realize the full extend of this. They wouldn’t go to their favourite coffee place anymore, no late breakfasts, no Emily teasing her about the sunglasses tan her work cloths left, no Emily greeting her when she came home after a mission, no Emily sneaking into the bathroom, splashing water at her, no Emily burning down the kitchen while cooking, no Emily to go out with, no Emily to laughing, no Emily smiling, no Emily…

“Lena~” she looked up, her sight blurred by her tears, Angela standing in front of her. “Why did she break up with me?” she felt Angela wrapping her arms around her as she started crying, just letting go of everything, her hands clawing in Angelas pullover.

 

~*~

 

She must have fallen asleep again. As she opened her eyes, the sun was starting to set, single rays of warm light breaking through the still heavy rain, making it glisten and shine like liquid silver. A small note next to the sandwiches Angela had brought her, told her that she and Fareeha had been send on a mission and weren’t expected to be home before the end of the week. A second note welcomed her to use this place as long as she wanted and needed with a key taped onto it.

Lena was thankful for Angela not asking too many questions and even if she worried, as she always did, about the two of them being alright, she was somewhat relieved to have a place to stay at besides the Overwatch quarters, since going back-

Hastily she took a sandwich from the plate, trying to stop herself from starting to sob again. It wouldn’t solve anything. Her rumbling stomach reminded her of her two missed meals. The tears started rolling down her cheeks as she started eating anyway, but it felt like they were cleaning her mind, not drowning her.

The endless rain outside her window seemed to silence the world. The lights of the cars from the street couldn’t fight against the endless streams of rain as the sun set and the world got lulled into darkness, a few seconds only, before the lights lit up and filled London with their dim light. Lena loved this hour and if she didn’t know exactly, what Angela would say to her, if she went out with the fever only having gone down hours ago, she would have started walking through the streets.

Instead she left the bedroom, to find herself in a spacious living room, filled with books of all kind, next to a few flowers, a big TV and a soft, beige sofa. A few picture frames hung over a sideboard, filled with old Halloween pictures, Overwatch family photos in casual and their old and new uniforms, but most of them were Fareeha and Angela together. If Lena hadn’t hurt so bad, she would have been happy for the two of them, but right now it just got her a stomach ache.

After a little bit of searching and exploring, she returned to the couch with a steaming cup of tea in one hand and a complete package of ice cream in the other. Cuddling herself into the soft pillows of the couch, she turned the TV on, landing on some old Sherlock Holmes Series, watching it disinterested, while eating her ice cream, slowly dozing off.


	2. Patching my heart

A stray ray of sun woke Lena as it broke through the clouds, shedding light on the mess that was the room around her. She must have gotten up in the night judging by the two pillows, the blanked and two bags of chips more than she remembered strewn across the room.

Her arm hurt as she got up. She must have fallen asleep on it and stayed like that for the night. Slow steps lead her to the bathroom. A dishevelled, red eyed, tear struck Lena stared back at her from the mirror, lips small, skin pale. Quickly she directed her attention to the shower, leaving her cloths on the ground, letting the hot water wash away the marks her tears left, relaxing her muscles and warming her cold skin. By now she got used to showering with only one hand even though Emily had helped her more than once.

She felt a small smile cross her lips at the thought. It sure did hurt and it would probably hurt for a while but maybe Emily would change her mind? They had had fights before. None like this – she swallowed hard – but there was a first for everything? Maybe? The tears burned in her eyes but were washed away by the hot water right as they started to run down her face as were her dark thoughts.

She could win Emily back! She fought criminals, human and machine, super villains and had rescued more people than she could count. She was part of Overwatch and a hero! So, it should be easy to win the girl of her dreams back! She almost slipped and fell as she jumped out of the shower, her chronal accelerator silently buzzing with the rhythm of her heart. The hair dryer slipped out of her hands twice before she was able to turn it on, jumping from one leg to another while her hair dried.

She would buy a bunch of Marigolds for Emily, they were her favourite flower, get coffee at their favourite place and go back to their place. She didn’t expect wonders but Emily sure would be willing to at least hear her out this time - when she was less upset. She simply had to-

And if not… if nothing would help? Lena shook her head. No time for worries of that kind. She needed to go in there wholehearted or not at all. Emily deserved someone who knew what they wanted and would be willing to fight for it and she was not willing to give up yet! Yesterday she could blame on the shock but today she would go in there and fight for her.

It took her longer than she wanted to find her duffle bag and get some fresh cloths. They wouldn’t have been her first choice to win Emilys heart back either, but they were better than the cloths still swirling around in the washing machine…

She hadn’t felt this excited since she first joined Overwatch agents on her first mission as she left the apartment, almost leaving the keys on the sideboard, running down the stairs as she threw over her jacket, taking two stairs at once, blinking half way down, flying down the streets into the lively streets of London. The rain yesterday had left its mark on the streets. Small children splashed around in puddles and the normally so grey and dirty looking city glistened in the rays of the sun that broke through the white clouds that still covered the sky like a blanket.

The water splashed high against her jeans as she ran through a puddle, across the street, almost getting ran over by a car, blinking down an alley, across a small park, coming to a halt in front of her favourite flower shop. The old sign on the corner showed the faded colours of a lily wrapped around the word Flowers in an old, ornate font. Emily had shown the little shop to her with its old framed windows, flowers in front an inside, cramped in every corner of the small room, filling the air with a sweet scent and giving the grey of London colour.

The sound of a little bell over the door announced her entering. “Lena! I missed you!” a young girl behind to counter waved at her, only barely able to see across with her eight years, directing the attention of her grandfather onto Lena: “Nice to see you again Ms. Oxton. It’s a little early. Your anniversary isn’t until two months from now?” He got up. A small man of old age but with a love for the delicate and beautiful. Since Emily had shown Lena this small shop she had returned at least once a year here for her anniversary, Mr. Clifton always preparing a big bouquet of marigolds the day before in expectations of the event.

“Are you two alright?” he asked, coming through the shop, carefully brushing the flowers out of his way. He seemed to read Lenas face as he nodded and turned around: “Well, what more says I love you than a big bouquet of roses? Or do you prefer marigolds? I only have few of them here, but I’m sure I could do the same magic with the few I have.” “I think marigolds would be perfect… thank you.” “I’ll be quick- hehe- as quick as an old man can be.”

“Lena-“ the little girl pulled at the rim of her shirt: “Are you and Emily alright?” Of course she would ask that. Emily brought always chocolate with them when they went here so she had to love her. “We will be alright”, Lena needed to believe that otherwise she could turn right back to Angelas and Fareehas apartment. “Uh! I made something!” The little girl jumped through the shop, avoiding the flower pots that already looked like tipping over each second and vanished in the back of the shop only to reappear seconds later with three bundled up flowers and lots of pink ribbon: “I’ve been practicing so I can be like grandpa someday! Give this to her for me?” “I will”

“Then I am sure this can’t compete with it.” Mr Clifton had returned from the back of the shop; a bouquet of marigolds and other flowers Lena didn’t know in his hands. It was plain but beautiful, exactly what Lena had wished for. “This is beautiful” she said as he handed it to her: “what do I owe you?” “A visit for your next anniversary” he smiled his grandfatherly smile at her: “would be enough of a reward for this one.” “I Can’t-“ “Yes you can” he interrupted her, shoving her out the door: “and give her my best.”

   
And with that she stood on the street, the arm full of flowers and pink ribbon, the door closing behind her. It lifted her spirits seeing the small shopkeeper believing in the two of them. So, flowers are done, next step would be Emilys favourite coffee. Of course it was half way across the city so by the time she got there the sun had well passed its highest point and big ben announced that it was quarter to one. With the flowers she didn’t dare to blink her way through the streets to the little café.

It was a small place that had grown over the years enabling the owner to buy the shop next door for more room to sit quietly and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. With that it had become full of nooks and crannies, perfect to spend some time alone or together with friends uninterrupted. Plus the owner made some of the best coffee around.

Shifting the flowers between her cast and body, trying to hold them in place, she opened the glass door with the big open-sign. Warm, coffee and cake scented air greeted her as she entered the room, filled with the soft murmur of people talking and laughing. Emily and she had been frequenting this place in the beginning and before their relationship, often talking till late at night after closing time until the employees kicked them out.

“One second” the girl behind the counter said as she spotted her, pouring heart and flower shapes in three big cups, putting them on a tabled for the waiter to pick up. “Sorry. How may I help you?” Lena noticed the look she gave her. The same look all people gave her when they tried to figure out where they have seen here or knew her from. “Two plain ones to go please. Large ones.” “Sure. Eight pounds please.” She turned around, starting to push buttons and getting the cups while Lena fumbled with her purse. Having only one hand free and a bunch of flowers in her arms the simple act of opening it and pulling out the right amount of money posed a near impossible task.

The sound of the coins hitting the ground made her groan internally, but she refused to let that put a damp on her good mood. “Let me give you a hand, amiga.” A hand picked up the coins, helping Lena to get on her feet again: “With that cast of yours I’m sure you won’t mind if I help you with that.” “Thanks” Shifting the flowers to her healthy arm she balanced her purse, putting it back in her pocket.

A young woman, about the same age as her, stood there, smiling, her purple eyes framed by dark lashes, sparkling mischievously at her: “It’s not every day that I run across Tracer and can help her. I am honoured to meet you.” “Thank you. I would shake your hand or something-“ Lena nodded to the flowers between her arm and body: “But I hope you understand that I don’t.” “Sure thing.” She grabbed the now filled, steaming cups of coffee, placing them in a holder, giving them to Lena: “Happy to help.” “Thanks.”

Balancing the flowers and the coffee was harder than it initially seemed. “Let me get the door for you”, the girl grinned at her: “I’m sure we’ll run across each other again.” “Thanks again.” Lena gave her a wink before leaving the shop behind her. Fate seemed to be on her side today. Only the necessity of perfect balance kept her from skipping back to their apartment. It would puzzle her later how she managed to unlock the door to the house without dropping the keys, but she managed to push it open somehow. Taking two steps at once as she ran up the stairs.

She came to an abrupt stop in front of their door. Her heart beating loud and hard in her chest. All the confidence, flowers and coffee in the world wouldn’t help her if Emily wouldn’t want to talk. Instead of unlocking the door, she left her keys in the pocket of her jacket, leaving it to Emily to decide to open the door or not. Taking a deep breath, she rang the doorbell. Every second her heart beat louder, painfully pounding against her ribcage. Supressing the trembling of her hands she tried to put on a confident smile but failed miserably, managing not more but a weak excuse for one. She took a quick look at the flowers, held in her arm. Still pretty.

“Can’t you leave me be for one day. I can’t – oh Lena.” Emily opened the door, her beautiful copper hair a dishevelled mess, wearing a too large shirt over old jeans. “Hey, Em.” Where did that confidence go she had just one minute ago? “Uhm. I brought you flowers- And coffee!” The attempt to give Emily the flowers almost ended in them falling to the ground with Lena tending to forget her immobilized arm if it hadn’t been for Emily who caught them just in time.

“Lena- I-“ her voice trembled. Just now Lena noticed how red her eyes were, telling stories about a night spend crying. “Emily… are you alright?” a stupid question, really. A glistening tear caught her attention, rolling down her girlfriends cheek. Without thinking she raised her hand, wiping it away, cupping her face softly: “Please don’t cry.” She whispered before realising what she was doing, pulling her hand away.  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to-“ “Wanna come in?”

Lenas eyes widened. She didn’t dare to really hope much less expect Emily to invite her in. Silently nodding she came in, letting Emily close the door behind her. Their living room was the same as it had been yesterday, only two pillows and a blanked let on about Emily spending the night here. She waited for Emily to put the flowers in a glass, they had no vase, that’s stuff old married couples buy, and cleaned some space on the sofa for them. Handing Emily a cup Lena sat down on one end of the sofa, Emily on the other. She wished for Emily to sit next to her, fall in her arms or the likes but she was aware that it wasn’t going to happen.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, both of them sipping on their coffee, Lena raised her voice: “So. Can we… talk?” “Yes! … no… I…” Emily continued to stare into her coffee, her legs drawn to her body, making herself as small a target as possible: “I can’t…”

Lena waited for her to continue. When Emily didn’t speak up she started: “Can’t what?” She sat up, putting her now empty cup on the table to have her healthy hand free: “Emily. This came out of the blue for me and I am- trying to understand. I really do.” She choked, trying to hold back the tears dwelling up inside her: “But I can’t give up on us”, she turned, facing Emily who was still avoiding any kind of eye contact: “I want to be with you! And I am willing to change! I’ll do everything-“

“Don’t” it wasn’t more than a whisper, tears rolling down Emilys face, dripping on the too large shirt, leaving dark marks on it: “I don’t want you to change. I don’t want you to give up anything you do. I want you to stay like you are… it’s just…” “Just what?” Lena was too impatient to wait for her to find the right words. She hoped, wanted, needed to hear those words: I want to be with you. To stay with you. Come back. She didn’t even want a please she just wanted to hear that Emily still loved her in any kind of way: “Emily please”, she stood up, closing the distance between them with one large step, kneeling on the ground in front of her love: “Please explain it to me” taking Emilys trembling  hands in her own: “I still love you.” She whispered softly, squeezing Emilys hands: “I would do anything for you.” Finally Emily looked up: “Lena, I-“

The door flew open with a loud bang: “I am back! And I brought coffee!” Lena jumped up, turning around, angry at whoever dared to disturb them now, not even wondering how they opened the door, only to feel her heart miss a beat as the girl from the coffeeshop walked in. Her purple eyes blazing with sadistic satisfaction at Lenas shocked expression: “Told you we would see each other again, Tracer.” “You- What are you doing here?” Lenas voice shook with badly supressed anger, more at the impudently of that girl walking towards them than directed at the girl herself.

“I’m just visiting my girlfriend”, the girl grinned. “How dare you-“ clenching her fists Lena stepped around the table, ready to punch that stupid, little bitch right in the face. “Lena!” she felt Emilys hands around her wrist and on her jacket, pulling her back, before she turned around, her heart filled with a mixture of anger and confusion. Her brown eyes met Emilys hazel ones, seeing something in them she couldn’t and didn’t want to understand.

“Really?” she whispered, hands still clenched to fists, janking her wrist away from Emilys hands.

“Really, amiga. Just imagine my surprise at her preferring me over the hero Tracer.” The girls grin broadened, walking straight around Lena towards Emily, wrapping her arms around her waist, pulling her close to her, leaning in, kissing Emily passionately, her hand buried in her copper hair. The kiss lasted three full heartbeats before they broke apart, the purple girl sneering at her: “On the other hand: You weren’t much around, were you.”

There it was again. That pain, that felt like a tear through her heart, ripping wider open with each second. Lena felt the tears burning in her eyes, blurring the two persons in front of her. This was worse than everything she thought could happen.  “Okay.” Was all she said, turning around, leaving the cups where they were, leaving Emily standing where she was: In the arms of another girl.

Somewhere behind a wall of very loud thoughts she heard Emily calling her, heard her scream something at the girl – No. At her new girlfriend – heard her running, fast steps behind her, then they stopped abruptly, Emily calling for her once more before the door shut behind her.

Lena barely made it to the apartment Angela had lent to her, before she completely broke down. Tears had started running down her face as soon as she had left the house but for once the weather wasn’t against her, the mild rain hiding her tears. The door closed behind her, Lena standing there for a second, staring empty into the room, before the tears started flowing again. Shivering and shaking she leaned against the door, sliding down on it, sitting on the cold hard floor. Wrapping her arms around her legs she started to sob uncontrollably, big salty tears dripping on her cast, jeans and the floor, leaving shimmering puddles of hurt and pain where they landed.

Pictures of Emily ran through her mind. Of Emily smiling, Emily laughing, Emily crying, Emily screaming at her while they were having a fight, Emily looking at her with those eyes she couldn’t quit make sense of, Emily kissing that girl… kissing that girl. Her eyes burned but she had cried too much to shed another tear. Leaning against the door she stared at the ceiling, watching the shadows get darker and longer as the sun set. This morning had seemed so positive. So full of hope and chances. Now she was right back where she started yesterday. Maybe even worse. This time she had nothing to hold on to and no Angela to talk with.

As if that wasn’t enough she felt the dizziness slowly creeping back in her head. Touching her forehead, she noticed that she was burning up again. Angela would probably kill her for walking through the rain again. Struggling to get up she made her way to the bedroom, leaving her soaked shoes behind on the floor, followed by her leather jacket and jeans. Crawling under the blanket was a feeling of relief and protection from the world, the sound of the rain drumming against the window quickly lulling her in.

 

~*~

 

She was woken early in the morning by her grumbling stomach. Her head hurt and she felt like throwing up but somehow managed to get out of bed, stumbling through the still dark apartment into the kitchen. Fumbling with the lid of a water bottle she finally managed to open it, drinking the cool liquid with large gulps, emptying the bottle quickly only to open another one.

After emptying the second one her head felt clear enough to realise that she hadn’t properly eaten anything for two days straight. Something at the back of her head demanded attention but she was too busy finding something edible. To her great pleasure she found cold pizza in the fridge – presumably from Angela who tended to be a bit messy – and made sure that it wouldn’t go bad within minutes.

Only then the whole happening crashed down on her. The realisation of Emily… of Emily… she couldn’t end that thought. It hurt. It hurt so bad. Making her way to the living room she sat on the sofa, burying her face in her hands. She was too exhausted, too tired to cry. She didn’t want to either. The world just felt blank and empty. Not even cold. Just not real. It was the same feeling after her accident before she got the accelerator. Emily had been the one linking her to this world before she got the little device that stopped her from phasing in and out of this time and now that she was gone it felt like she had lost contact again. Like it was surreal. Maybe it was. Maybe she had lost her accelerator in a battle or it got damaged and now she was dreaming as she floated through time.

_Yeah, you wish. You know this is real so why not accept it._  
She wouldn’t. She couldn’t.

_You’ve seen the kiss. That was real._

Emily wasn’t the one initiating that.

_Only to spare your feelings._

Emily wouldn’t go behind my back. She wouldn’t cheat on me.

_Sure. And that girl was an elf._

“Oh fuck off!” Lena shouted, throwing the empty water bottle in her hand against the wall and the imaginary evil Lena. What was she supposed to do now? She still didn’t feel healthy after the return of the fever yesterday and even if she did Jack wouldn’t let her work with Angela having called her in sick for at least a week. Returning to their… Emilys place would only do more harm than good. What was she supposed to do in her free time? All her stuff was back there. The whole situation made her so unbelievably angry and left her feeling helpless.

After hours of braindead watching the ceiling turned to brainless watching some stupid series Lena got up again. Searching for a delivery service she browsed though the net, ordering a but load of snacks, ranging from burgers to chicken wings to pizza. She knew she would never eat that much but spending money on stupid stuff seemed like a valid idea to make her feel better, especially if it was food. She felt already a little better as she hit the send-order button on the screen, leaning back on the couch, continuing to watch something braindead.

The ringing of the doorbell made her almost jump from the sofa. Opening the door, she was greeted by a deliveryman with a bag almost too large for him to carry: “Quite a party you are having here. That’d be sixty-one pounds.” “Oh sorry. I’ll quickly get my wallet.”   
Okay she might have bought way too much food. And it wasn’t even food from an expensive place but the cheapest fast food she could find. Mistakes where made and she didn’t feel guilty about it but like she deserved it. Maybe it was the anger about her complete helplessness in this situation speaking but it was better than throwing empty bottles around.

Quickly grabbing her jacket, she hurried back to the front door, searching for her wallet in her pockets. Cursing her cast one more time her stiff fingers found the wallet, pulling it out of the pocket, pulling a receipt along with it, leaving it tumbling to the floor. No time to care right now she would need to clean this place up later anyway. “That’s seventy for you. Thanks for driving through the rain.” She was thanked with a bright grin and a huge bag full of fast food.

Half an hour later the table in front of her was littered with two empty burger boxes, half an eaten pizza, pommes strewn across the table and a half-emptied bottle of cola.  Lena leaned back on her sofa, satisfied and feeling a little warm. Not enough for a smile but enough to not feel horrible. Lazily picking up the fries she started cleaning the table. One by one putting them in one of the empty burger boxes, stacking the pizza cartons and other boxes, which still contained food, orderly onto each other before taking as much as she could carry to the kitchen, filling the fridge with the cartons. She would be able to live the whole week off this.

It took her two more trips to the kitchen before the table was emptied. Only thing that was left was to clean the floor, which proofed more annoying than anything she had ever done with a carpet she never noticed before now and a lot of pommes caught in its fuzzy surface. But at least it kept her distracted and occupied for another hour. The last thing she picked up was the receipt. She had cleaned around it on purpose, it probably being a reminder of a cheesy date they had.

It was so stupid. She had been feeling okay for the last hours and this ridiculous piece of paper on the floor with some random ridiculous numbers on it easily overwound the walls and patches she had tried to repair her heart with, leaving her kneeling on the ground in front of it.

It took her two deep breaths before she took it off the ground, studying its numbers.

It was about a book Emily got her before her last long mission. One that was of course still lying next to their bed…

How did that get in her jacket anyway? The thought of Emily borrowing the leather jacket made her sink a second into blissful smiling. Leaning against the wall she sat there, starring at it, remembering the last farewell Emily gave her before she went on her mission. Emily refusing to give her her jacket back, both of them ending up on the couch, cuddling until Lena got up way too late. Dwelling in her memories she turned the thin paper between her fingers, creasing the corners of it. Her thoughts abruptly came to a halt when she noticed something on the back of it. Turning the paper around, smoothing it she had to squint her eyes to make out the tiny letters written in a shivering, hasty hand. Her heart stop as she recognized Emilys handwriting.

In tiny letters were a time and a place written on it, almost unreadable. Lena shot up, grabbing her jacket. The time telling her that she was already two hours too late and if it wasn’t a note of the past Emily wanted and needed her there and now!

A tiny voice in the back of her head told her how stupid she was being, how ridiculous this was and that she watched too many action movies. But right now, she chose to ignore that little voice, holding on to every straw of hope she would get, even if it made her a total idiot and would leave her hurting even worse than before.

Lena ran through the streets of London, only lid by dim lanterns. The farther away she got from the centre and the tourist attractions the fewer lanterns lid her path, leaving her in total darkness from time to time between two larger roads. Large steps, blinking around corners, passing some cars and night owls she flew through the city. Her hart fluttering in her chest, praying that she wasn’t too late, that it wasn’t just an old reminder, that it meant something.

She came to a slithering halt in an old, run down alley. She remembered it from an old mission years ago. The day she met Emily. The night was silent, the buildings abandoned, still showing marks of the fight from years ago. Lena could only hear her rough breathing, her chest heaving heavily under the strain she had put her lungs under, her accelerator shining dimly through the thin fabric of her shirt. Looking around, searching for something, anything, a hint that she wasn’t imagining everything. She was too afraid to call out, the echo of her voice would only be a proof to her foolishness.

“Lena?”

The voice was faint, scared and quiet. She spun around, her eyes searching for the source of the sound. Her heart threatening to burst through her chest.

There she was.

Standing up from behind a pile of old boxes, wrapped in an old jacket, her hair still a mess, her skin ghostly white in the pale shine of Lenas accelerator. “Emily” was all Lena could gasp before arms wrapped around her, embracing her, hands clawing into her jacket, desperately holding on to it, burring her face in Lenas neck.

She stood there, not daring to move or breath or do anything in fear of waking up. Finally she wrapped her arms around Emily, pulling her as close as possible, breathing in the scent of her hair, feeling her sob quietly into the crease of her neck. “I got you” she whispered, holding on tight to the dishevelled, crying girl in her arms: “It’s gonna be alright.” She didn’t know what would be alright nor how to fix… whatever this meant, but she had Emily back and that was all that mattered, at least for the moment.

“I’m so sorry” Emily mumbled against her neck, hot tears burning against Lenas skin. “I wanted to tell you. I wanted to-” she started sobbing again, her hands buried in Lenas jacket like she was afraid she might disappear at any given second.

Lena felt Emily starting to shake as she cried, slowly guiding her to sit on the cold ground, arms still wrapped around each other, before Emily would break down. A tear ran down her cheek, dripping into Emilys hair. “I’m so glad this wasn’t my imagination.” She whispered, hugging Emily tight, her healthy hand softly stroking through Emilys hair: “I didn’t know if-“

She was silenced by a passionate kiss, Emilys lips meeting hers, desperately pushing against hers, her hand grabbing her hair, pulling her even closer. Lena found herself pushed against a wall, Emilys hands in her hair and her lips burning against hers. She tasted so sweet, the heat of the kiss filling her body with sparkling warmth. But -  

“Em” she broke apart, her heart fluttering in her chest, trying to catch her breath, her cheeks flushed with red heat: “Em!” pushing her away, careful but determined: “What is going on?”

Emily backed away, all energy seemed to have left her body, averting her gaze, trying to avoid any eye contact with Lena. “Emily”, slowly raising her hand, cupping her cheek, Lena turned Emilys face towards her, locking her eyes with hers: “You need to tell me what is going on.” “I-“ Emilys eyes filled with tears again: “I can’t”

Lena felt her heart tighten, anger replacing confusion and fear, laying a tight grip around it: “Are you serious?!” She pulled her hand away, standing up, leaving Emily sitting on the ground. A searing heat spread through her body: “Are you fucking serious?” she started screaming: “I have been going through hell the last two days!”

She clenched her hands to fists, starring down at Emily, averting her eyes again. “You just break up with me out of nowhere! Fine! I try to accept that! I come to talk-“ her voice shook with anger: “ – only to find out you have been cheating on me!”

By now hot tears where streaming down her face: “And if that wasn’t enough I find this note, hoping and praying that it means something only to find you here, kissing me but refusing to explain anything!” she shouted all the anger, confusion and hurt at Emily: “I am not some toy you can use to your every whim!”

“That’s not-“ Emily started crying, her big eyes filling with tears, leaving salty streaks on her face, her hands tearing at her jacket, trying to find hold on, something. “Then what?” Lena wasn’t done being angry: “What is this supposed to be?” her voice almost broke. She wanted nothing more than for Emily to say that she still loved her or explain this but that wasn’t going to happen apparently. 

She stepped away. Away from the wall and away from her love. Her voice trembled as she spoke again, the words cutting through her heart, making it bleed, but something telling her that this needed to be: “You know what? This was a mistake. I’ll just leave and you can enjoy your new girlfriend.”

“She is not my girlfriend!”, Emily cried out, getting on her trembling legs, cheeks flushed red, tears in her eyes: “Lena, please” she stumbled towards her but Lena backed away, not willing to get hurt anymore than she already was: “Didn’t seem like that.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Thank you for that insight.”

“Please listen to me!”

Lena had never heard Emily cry out like that, never heard so much desperation and hurt in any humans voice. 

“I- “ Emilys shoulders sank, making her appear smaller than she was: “They-“ she took a deep quivering breath: “They got-“ she choked up again, pulling her jacket close around her as if to protect herself against something or someone.

Lenas anger suddenly vanished, replaced by a faint sense of guilt.

It took Emily another deep breath before she tried again: “They took my parents.” She whispered, every ounce of energy and defiance disappeared from her body: “They took them and if I didn’t break up with you they would kill them.” She hid her face behind her hands: “I didn’t know how to handle it but suddenly I broke up with you and you were gone and I couldn’t sleep and she showed up when you were there and I wanted to tell you but then she kissed me and you were gone and I wasn’t fast enough to stop you and I broke everything and I am so sorry-“ 

A quick step was all it took for Lena to reach the crying girl, swooping her up in her arms, holding her tight, letting her cry against her chest, Emilys fingers entangled in her shirt, pulling at it, trying to hold on. “I had no idea” Lena whispered against her hair, holding Emily in her arms, protecting her against whoever threatened her love. She felt Emily shaking her head: “you couldn’t”

“I should have felt that something was wrong.”

“You couldn’t”, Emilys voice trembled, her hands shaking: “I need to get back. If they see that I’m gone-“ “You can’t go back! Now that I know we need to rescue your parents.”

“We can’t” Emily raised her head, searching for Lenas gaze: “They wanted me to break up with you. You will only endanger yourself.”

“I don’t care! I can’t leave you to that!”

“If they think I did my part they will release my parents and everything will be alright! We can be back together!”

“Emily-“

“Please! It’s going to work. Please. Lena!”

Lena caressed her loves cheek, wiping away her tears: “They will come after you again and again if we don’t stop them. You aren’t safe.” Lena looked around: “We aren’t safe here either. I need to bring you to Overwatch.”

“No!” Emily shook her head violently: “They’ll kill them!” “As they will you! I can’t see you-“ her voice broke, the thought of Emily getting hurt or killed sending cold shivers of terror down her spine, even more so if it was because of her. “Please don’t” Emily whispered,

Lena stayed quiet for a while, holding Emily in her arms, softly rocking her from side to side, more to calm her own thoughts and heart, than Emily. She couldn’t just leave her alone dealing with this. She couldn’t come back to their place either since it would endanger Emily and her parents. Going to Overwatch with this would be the right thing to do but if anything went out of order or any outsider would get wind of this it would endanger them too. What if…

“Why did they want you to break up with me?” “I don’t know” Emily looked at her up, suddenly realizing Lenas intentions: “You can’t be thinking of going there!”

“I’m thinking about getting captured and bring your parents back.”

“You can’t!”

“I have to,” Lena smiled at her weakly: “It’s what heroes do.”


	3. Saving my heart

The ceiling was as forgiving and helpful as a broken arm. Lena had been starring at it for what felt like hours without getting anywhere with her plan. She had promised Emily to not run off, which was harder than she would have thought, and go on a rescue mission. Despite her still broken arm – which was healed in her opinion, but she would need to wait for two more days until Angela came back to give her okay if she didn’t wish to get murdered by that pretty doctor – she had the urge to do something! Anything but stare at this stupid ceiling.

 

Her promise to Emily was to not do anything rash and to meet her in three days, again – three days from then meaning today. Lena worried that Emily wasn’t safe and she wished she could go to Jack or Winston, who of course were away on a mission. The rest of the currently stationed Overwatch agents here she didn’t know or trusted enough to entrust her girlfriends life to them.

And to be completely honest she hadn’t come up with any kind of plan what to do. Emily didn’t know who she was up against with the purple girl being the only contact she had. She didn’t know what they exactly wanted or where they were located. Once she had tried to follow the purple girl. That had been the second time she had contacted her, before her parents were abducted. But following her statement, the girl quite literally disappeared.

 

Groaning in frustration Lena threw her head back, swinging her legs up the back of the couch, hanging upside down from it, staring at the books Angela kept under the small table in the living room. This wasn’t helping. She would need to do something preferably running in somewhere gun blazing and shouting, rescuing her loves parents and her love in the process and getting all the bad guys to prison. But sadly this wasn’t an action movie so nothing like that would happen. The clock on the opposite side of the room ticked another five rounds before Lena got up again. She would meet Emily soon and she really wanted to make it count, plan or not.

 

After taking a hot shower she wasn’t closer to a plan, but her heart was aflutter with joy and excitement. She really wanted to see Emily again, which showed in the effort she put in her hair today. Biting her lip in concentration she took extra care while styling her hair, giving herself a flirty wink and a smug grin as she was done, turning around. Seeing Emily again was the thing that had kept her from going crazy the last two days. Just hugging her and being hugged would make up for everything. She didn’t dare to go back to their apartment to get different cloths, since she wasn’t sure if they were being watched, so she had to do with a simple blue shirt and jeans.

 

Throwing her jacket over she stopped at her duffle bag. Her pulse pistols were in there. Not that she expected to use them but with knowing what was going on it would be very careless to go out of the house without them. She took a second look before taking the bag up. Just in case.

 

Big Ben tolled eleven as Lena turned the corner to a small coffee shop. It was one of those that were open 24/7 with bad coffee but always full of visitors. To her experience it was easier to hide in a crowd than in abandoned streets. The small bell above the door announced her entering but nobody cared, not even the waiter. The shop was small and stuffed with tables and chairs, small lamps hung from the ceiling, trying their best to light the place but failing miserably, each one of different colour and shape. It was a nice and cute place on a sunny afternoon, but the coffee was still horrible and with the crowd in here it was at best okay-ish. Lena had stopped here with her team after a mission because they thought it was great. Well, mistakes were made.

 

Her eyes searched the dim room, looking for the person she wanted to see so bad, finding the shine of copper hair in a corner of the room, starring into a cup of coffee. A broad smile appeared on her face, as she made her way through the crowded room. “Is this seat taken?”, she asked, Emilys eyes shooting up from her coffee, brightening at the sight of her: “Lena” before she could get up Lena bowed down, locking their lips in a sweet kiss, entangling her hand in Emilys soft hair, this time brushed and shining like polished copper. “I missed you too” she gasped as they broke apart, Lena sitting down, shoving her bag under the table, taking Emilys hand. If they only had an hour she wouldn’t let go of her hand for one second.

 

“How have you been?” Lena finally asked after caressing her girlfriends hand, getting slowly lost in her eyes. She looked better than last time and as beautiful as ever but still tired and exhausted. Emily clenched her jaw: “She’s been there yesterday, congratulating me on the great job I did breaking your heart.” Her eyes went dark: “I never wanted to punch a person so bad.” “Next time do” Lena chuckled, she deserves it. “Oh I never said I didn’t punch her”, Emily raised her other hand, showing a bandage loosely wrapped around her wrist: “Didn’t quite go as planned but I made sure it hurt her more than it hurt me.”

 

Lena couldn’t help but laugh, before taking Emilys hand into hers, carefully caressing her wrist, tightening the obviously self-bound bandage around her wrist: “When the time comes I’ll need to teach you how to hit someone without hurting yourself.” “I know how to do that”, Emily glared at her: “She had some kind of implants that made her skin harder than it should be. Must have hurt like hell though she screamed at me, so I started crying.” “Will you be alright?” Lena finished the knot, softly massaging Emilys wrist. “She is angry but not stupid. They obviously still have something planned with me. Why else keep my parents and me under close watch.” Her voice grew bitter. Lena saw Emilys lips grow thin, a clear sign of her trying not to cry.

 

“Hey-“ cupping her cheek she leaned in for a quick kiss: “We will figure this out. I promise you.” “This finally conjured a smile on Emilys face: “I do hope so.”

 

“Oh me too otherwise this whole thing is pointless.”

 

Lena jumped up, almost knocking her chair over, reaching for her gun: “You!” Emily had jumped up as well, backing away from the girl in purple. With her hair brushed sideways, revealing a pink implant on the side of her head Lena realised for the first time, who she was dealing with.

“Sombra!”

“Took you long enough, amiga”, Sombra sneered at her: “And here I thought I wasn’t memorable enough.” Finally finding her gun, Lena shoved Emily behind her, pointing the weapon at the hacker. Shouts of surprise and fear echoed through the little café, people running for the door, hiding behind tables, stumbling over chairs and screaming in fear.

 

“Oh, look what you’ve done.” Sombra pulled an empty chair towards their table: “And here I was, always thinking that heroes are there to protect and reassure and not cause a panic.”

“What are you doing here?” “Isn’t is obvious?” Sombra pointed to Emily, whose fists clenched, shaking visibly with a mixture of anger and fear behind Lena: “I want to get our little newly acquired pet back. We’ve had a change of plans, so-“

“You gotta have to go through me, first.”

“Oh honey. That’s not how its going to work.”  

 

A piercing pain shot through Lenas shoulder, sending her gasping to the ground, followed by a loud bang and the sound of shattering glass. She heard Emily scream, saw people running and a purple flash passing by her. It took her seconds to realise that she had been shot, her vision getting blurry. She needed to get up, to get to Emily. She heard her screaming her name, saw someone pulling her out of the shop, away from her, somewhere were she wouldn’t be able to reach. She saw her fighting against the shadow pulling her away. Desperately trying to get up from the ground she tried reaching out for her, the pain in her shoulder and arm sending her to the ground again: “Don’t! Emily!“ she saw Emily fall to the ground, a cascade of molten copper. They hurt her. They hurt her Emily and there was nothing she could do. She promised to protect her…

“Emily-“ her vision went black as she slumped to the ground, her hand outstretched, trying to reach for her love.

 

~*~

A bright light blinded her as she opened her eyes. A searing pain filling her shoulder. She turned her head to the side, seeing a table with flowers.

Marigolds.

She sat straight up in her bed, her eyes trying to focus on something. Ignoring the pain shooting through her shoulder she pushed herself further up, swinging her legs over the bed.

“Oh no you don’t!”, someone pushed her back down: “Help me. She can’t get up or this will be for the cat.”  Two pairs of hands held her down on the bed as she struggled against their grip: “Let me go! They took her! They took Emily!”

“Lena, we know but you need to rest at least for another hour or your injury will open up again!”

“I can’t! I need to get her.”

“You have to wait! We know about it just lie down!”

At last her eyes focused on the person talking to her, the golden spot hovering above her turning into Angelas face. She stopped resisting, letting herself slump into the soft pillows surrounding her, the searing pain in her shoulder overpowering her thinking, groaning.

 

“I apologize for the pain but I though you would highly dislike to be chained to the bed, so I applied nanobots to fix you up and burn the narcotic in your blood.” “What happened? Why am I here? Is Emily here?” Her eyes searched the room, only to find Jack standing next to her bed, arms crossed, eyeing her, then Angela and her again.

Angela sat down on the edge of her bed: “We returned from our mission early”, Angela searched for the right words: “When we got back, we got called out right away to an explosion. Well I was” her eyes were dark with worry: “I found you under the debris of a coffee shop.” She took a look at Jack, nodding at her: “Gladly nobody got hurt aside from some minor cuts and bruises. From the stories we were told someone pulled a gun at somebody and they all ran out before the explosion hit.”

 

“It was Sombra” Lena groaned, slowly sitting up, leaning against the headboard of her bed: “They got Emily. And her parents.” “We figured as much”, another look to Jack: “Lena. Our mission was to retrieve Emilys parents. We had an informant, telling us about it.” “Then why didn’t you-“

“To protect you and your girlfriend.” Jack interrupted her: “You tend to run off and ingulf in unnecessary risks, Oxford.” Lena was to exhausted and her shoulder hurt too bad to fight Jack about this right now, plus some little voice at the back of her head told her that he was right.

“Suffice to say that we underestimated the risk and danger she was in.”

 

“Wait. You knew-“ she turned back to Angela: “-and didn’t think of sending someone to protect her against them?!” she was close to screaming. “Lena”, Angelas voice was soft, the same tone she used to tell relatives of victims bad news: “we did. They were killed. So nobody could inform us about what happened.” Lena went pale. If they were willing to kill Overwatch agents, they were willing to fledge a full out war against Overwatch. “Emily?” “Sorry, Lena.” Angela shook her head: “We have no information about her whereabout of any kind.”

“I refuse-“ she swung her legs out of bed again, ignoring the pain in her shoulder: “- to loose her-“ she stood up, neither Angela nor Jack stopping her this time: “-again!”

“At least wait until your shoulder is fully healed.” Angela asked. Lena knew that tone. If she refused Angela would quite literally bind her to that bed of hers, making sure she wouldn’t blink out of her restrains. Lena made that mistake once, she wasn’t stupid enough to do it again. Right now may be an exception though: “How long will that be?” “An hour if you lay still. Four if you walk around.” Angela pointed to her arm, freely hanging at her side: “I took off your cast, don’t force me to put it on again to keep your shoulder steady.”

 

“Fine” Lena sat back down: “But the second this is healed I am going to search for her!” “We are doing everything we can”, Jack nodded towards her and Angela and turned to leave the room, looking back one last time: “Oxton. I know this is hard but I won’t be the one explaining to your girlfriend what happened to you when you run off without us.” And with that he closed the door behind him.

 

~*~

Jacks words had a bigger impact on her than he himself would have expected, keeping Lena in bed for three whole hours until Angela gave her okay for her to get up. As soon as those words had left Angelas lips though, Lena was up and running, blinking through the Overwatch complex to her room, throwing on her mission gear, carefully stretching her arm whose time in a cast left a mark on her muscle strength. It could be worse though. She could have her arm still in a cast for example.

 

The meeting room was empty except for Jack and Ana, both examining a holographic map in front of them. Locations where highlighted, others had red crosses hovering over them. Not very promising. “Ms. Oxton”, Ana greeted her: “It’s good to see you up again.” “Thanks” Lena liked Ana and admired her for her strength, even though she had never worked directly with or under her. “I’m sorry for what is happening to you.” “Thank you”, Lena whispered, directing her attention to the map: “What does it tell me?”

 

“Same as always. Red crosses are already checked locations, the blue one over there”, Jack pointed to a large building outside the city: “was were her parents were.” “Wait, you already rescued them?” “Yes. These, these and these”, he pointed to three green highlighted buildings: “Are the buildings we feel most likely to be one of there hideouts. The yellow ones are alternative options.” “That’s about 12 cities you listed here and not all are even in England. How did you limit it to these if you considered it world wide?” “We did have a couple of hours until you woke up and a couple more until you got here.” “Trust in Overwatch.” Ana said, giving Lena a reassuring smile: “You are normally the first one in that Ms. Oxton. Don’t let your faith waver because it is someone close to you. If anything it should be stronger than ever.”

 

Lena bit her lip. Ana was right but it was hard to trust through all the worry and fear she felt towards Emilys health and life. “What can I do?” she asked, hoping for Jack to give her a task to do, anything really. “Right now nothing. We are waiting on some… information”, Jack said, one hand on his com, crossing another yellow building off the map. “You should rest. Save your strength and I promise you, the second we know something I will come get you.” Lena nodded.

 

It was hard to return to her room, leaving Ana and Jack to closing in on Emilys location. It was even harder to see the photos she had on her nightstand of her and Emily, the shirt, Emily gifted her what seemed like ages ago, carelessly tossed on her laundry pile, the flower Emily urged her to keep to brighten up her room, poor thing. Lena sat down on her bed, pulling her googles and jacket off, leaving them on the side of her bed as she lay down, her hands finding one of Emilys shirts under the tossed blanket from when she stayed here last time. Pressing it against her chest she curled up on her bed, tears of anger and fear rolling down her cheeks, silently sobbing into the thin fabric that still smelled like Emily.

 

The thought of Emily alone and afraid somewhere in the dark and surrounded by enemies lay a tight grip around her heart. It felt like springing apart as it was. She couldn’t lose her… not a second time… not again. She needed to do something. Anything. She felt the grip around her heart tighten, quenching the light that were her feelings for Emily, turning them in something dark and twisted, a mixture of fear and anger. Her hands clenched around the small shirt, pulling it to her heart as if to fill the growing void with it. 

 

“Come on, Lena. Stop being sorry for yourself. It won’t help.” She sat up, the t-shirt still in her hands, watching her silent tears leave dark circles on the red fabric. She could hear Emily, telling her to get a grip, to never give up hope, but Emily was gone and Lena wasn’t too sure if she would ever get her back. And this scared her more than anything else.

She felt a shiver travel down her spine. She couldn’t bear the thought of having lost her forever. She felt herself being sucked down that dark spiral again so she got up, carefully placing the shirt on her bed as if it was a part of her. It would be hours or more until Jack and Ana got anything and Lena was very sure they wouldn’t let her check out one of the locations just in case it was the right one and she would storm right in. In an effort to keep her thoughts off the Emily topic she left her room, making her way to the gym part. It would probably be mostly empty since nobody was stationed here that wasn’t on a mission except for a few.

 

As expected: the gym was mostly vacant except for Fareeha Amari, doing push-ups in a corner of the room. She stopped and looked up as Lena entered, getting on her feet: “Lena” she obviously searched for words: “I’m sure we’ll find her” she ended a little awkward. Lena nodded, thankful not to be asked how she was or felt. She wouldn’t even be sure how to answer that. “Would you be willing to spare with me?”, she asked instead of following the topic.

Fareeha stopped her exercise, raising her eyebrow: “Are you sure that is a good idea with your shoulder and just healed arm?” Lena shrugged. If she kept doing nothing she would explode and she’d rather spar with someone, than run or lift something leaving her alone with her thoughts: “Angela said I am allowed to take part in the mission so I guess.”

 

Fareeha shrugged: “If you hurt yourself you will explain that to Angela _and_ my mother. I won’t stand for the combined wrath of the two of them.” It was only half a joke but it made Lena chuckle: “I’ll take it upon me.” Fareeha eyed her from head to toe: “You look like you need some outlet. Get in the ring and glove up I’ll get mine.”

 

Minutes later Lena was in the ring, her chronal accelerator shimmering through her shirt, her mission cloths switched for a simple set of sport shorts and T-shirt. “You ready, Oxton?” Fareeha teased, mimicking Jack as she climbed into the ring on the opposite side: “You know the rules. Just come at me and see what your arm can take.” “Don’t hold back on my account”, Lena snared, Fareehas endless teasing and concern about her stupid arm slowly annoying her.

“Then come at me!” Lena didn’t need more to go at. Raising her hands at the same height of her head she came at Fareeha, her first hits being easily dogged by her: “Oh come on girl, you are better than that.” Fareeha hadn’t even taken on her fighting stance, simply moving out of the way of each of her hits: “Just because you’ve been out of action can’t mean you lost all your skill.” “I haven’t!” Lena spun around, Fareeha standing behind her, still relaxed. It made her so unbelievably angry.

 

She started flinging her fists at the taller woman, each of her attacks landing nowhere, Fareeha dodging them with an easy that infuriated her. “Come on Lena. This isn’t all you’ve got!” “No!” Finally her fist hit, Fareeha blocking it, giving her a condescending grin: “That’s it.”

Lena heard herself scream, her attacks getting faster, each having more power behind it than the previous one: “I promised to protect her!”

Another hit, leaving Fareeha to take a step back: “I promised to stay with her!”

She blocked a hit from Fareeha, taking a step to the side, answering it with an attack of her own, hitting Fareeha hat her shoulder, making her stumble back. The taller woman going over to defend herself against her vicious attacks.

“I told her everything would be alright!”

Fareeha becoming blurred behind a veil of tears as they streamed down her face, making her a vague target.

“I said I’d protect her-“ she whispered, her attacks getting slower, loosing her strength, her punches being blocked by Fareeha.

“She counted on me-“ her punches grew soft, desperate, Fareeha letting her hands sink, letting Lena just hit her, none of the hits even making her take a step back.

“She counted on me and I failed.” Lena let her hands sink, arms hanging loosely at her sites: “I failed..” She felt her legs grow weak as she stumbled back, Fareeha catching her, guiding her to sit on the ground. “I failed her” she whispered, tears streaming down her face. She failed to protect the one thing she loved the most and not only that but even worse - played her right in the hands of her enemy. And all because of her. It was all her fault. What was she supposed to do if they wouldn’t find her…

 

“It’s not your fault.” She looked up, Fareeha kneeling next to her on the ground, her hands freed from the gloves, weakly smiling at her: “I know that it is easier to blame yourself than to accept that sometimes we are helpless.” “If I hadn’t had my arm broken, I could have saved her from Sombra.” “And probably get killed in the process”, Fareeha shook her head: “I can’t imagine what you are going through right now. I can just speak from the time Angela was in danger”, her eyes went pitch black at the notion: “I was ready to rip someones heart out and blamed it all on me rather than accepting that there was nothing I could have done in that situation.” Lena shook her head: “But I could have-“ “It doesn’t matter”, Fareeha interrupted her: “You couldn’t have changed the outcome. You are just trying to not face the possibilities of the future.” “I-“ “Emily will be alright!” Fareeha silenced her: “We will find and save her. It’s what heroes do.”

 

“I could lose her.” She whispered, sunken on the ground, pulling the gloves off her hands. “But you won’t” She looked up at Fareeha, her eyes desperately searching for the truth of her words in her dark ones, finding an unwavering determination and the light of believe. The knot around her heart loosened, leaving back a broken, ripped and bleeding thing. But it wasn’t screaming in pain anymore. “I need to rescue her.” Lena staggered to her feet, Fareeha following her example: “And we will do that.” She grinned at her, the normal, self-assured grin she was used to: “You are not alone, you know?” Lena nodded, a little embarrassed for the fact that the professional soldier needed to remind her, the motivation bundle of Overwatch.

 

Fareeha took a deep breath: “And now you go and explain that to Angela”, she pointed at Lenas left hand. Only now she realised that it was bleeding, plus she had a dull pain in her just healed broken arm. “I guess I deserved that one for hitting you so much. Sorry for that.” Fareeha shrugged: “You are not the first to scream her heart at me. For some reason people here seem to have trouble rationally talking about their fears and come here to beat someone up”, she grinned: “I’ve heard more kinds of your story than you would believe. But, you know-“ she turned, climbing out of the ring, putting the gloves back: “I’m just the brave soldier searching for justice and the daughter of the captain.” She winked at her, turning back to her training regimen.

 

~*~

“I send you off a few hours ago, patched up and ready to go!”, Angela was fuming, searching for a bandage for Lenas hand as she ran through the infirmary: “and here you are after I specifically told you to keep it down! How do you expect me to send you off on any mission if you are in that shape?!” “Sorry”, Lena truly was, ruffling through her hair sheepishly. “Sorry doesn’t do it, junges Fräulein!” Oh, she switched to German. Bad sign abort! Abort!

“I needed to let off some steam-“ she tried explaining, being shushed as Angela returned, a syringe and bandages in her hand: “Can’t you do that by playing video games or something?!” Angela grumbled as she prepped the syringe. “What’s that for?” Lena eyed the sharp needle. “Stupidity”, Angela grinned, ramming it into Lenas just healed shoulder, injecting whatever was in it into her shoulder and arm. “Ouch-“ Lena mumbled, too afraid of the doctor to complain any further. “Done, those nanobots should fix every damage you caused to your freshly healed arm and shoulder.” Lena winced at that accusation and a little at Angela cleaning the small cuts on her hand, before she softly wrapped the bandages around it: “Done”, she said, fastening a knot, cleaning the room, putting everything back in its place.

 

“Thanks luv”, Lena slid down from the bed she sat on, making her way to the door. “Lena?” She stopped, turning around: “Hm?” “Are you alright?” “I’m better now.” Lena managed a weak but real smile: “This helped.” She raised her hand, Angela rolling her eyes, mumbling something along the lines of what is wrong with all of you but waved her off with a nod. Lena closed to door to the infirmary behind her, running straight into Jack. “Oxton”, he sounded mildly surprised: “I had expected to find you in the gym.” “What is it Commander?” her heart fluttered in her chest. It had to be good news after all the bad.

 

“We found the location. Be ready in 20 minutes we are going in.”


	4. Healing my heart

The buzzing sound of the engine lowered in tone as they approached their landing point. Lena nervously shifted her weight from one foot to the other, holding on to one of the bars in the helicopter, watching the ground get closer as their pilot started the landing process. She felt Angelas gaze between her shoulderblades as the helicopter touched the wet grass. They’ve been flying for what felt like forever in a steady rain and she grew impatient. Each minute it took them to get there increased the chance of something happening to Emily.

 

The forest in which they landed was far away from every kind of civilization let alone a city. They found an old manor on a very old map which turned out to be the location they were looking for. Or at least they hoped so. The soft grass bowed under the wind the helicopter blades made as they slowed down, Jack being the first to jump down, closely followed by Angela and herself and twelve other agents. Jack had briefed them on their plan. They would go in, following the blueprints they found deep down in the archives, searching each and every room. According to their information, only three persons where supposed to be inside there plus Emily.

 

After their last mission Jack had decided to be better safe than sorry and instead of going in with five people he stocked up to fifteen. Lena was on the verge of blinking through the entirety of the forest, through the mansion right to Emily but she was impatient not dumb. So instead she was sneaking through the forest with her team, the light of her accelerator dimmed behind a thrown over coat to keep anyone from spotting them. The forest whispered, rain dripping though the leaves, concealing the rustling of their steps on the wet ground. The mansion peeled out of the darkness like the ghost of past glory, its walls hidden behind ivy, slowly growing between the cracks, the roof missing some tiles, the windows dark, some of them shattered. The only thing telling that someone was inside being the two guards on a balcony in the upper stores.

 

A whispered word through the commlink, two shots and the guards went down, filling Lena with a grim satisfaction followed by a feeling of guilt. They were the good guys, she shouldn’t enjoy such things- although…

after everything they’d put here through…

no…

Still not right. Quickly moving forward, Jack first, Angela and Lena last, they circled the house, going up to the back entrance, Lena hearing a dump sound of something hitting the ground, seeing the source of it lying to her feet as she came around, unconscious. It worried her. They expected three opponents and they weren’t even inside and had already encountered the maximum amount of people. On the plus side they didn’t seem to expect them, all guards being rather careless until this point. 

 

Carefully opening the door, Jack waved them inside, gesturing that no one was around. Lena was the last to enter, her eyes searching the small room which might have been a broom chamber at some point judging by the number of brooms, buckets and old chairs stacked in it. She felt a weird sense of disappointment. Of course Emily wasn’t in the first room they entered, if she was here at all – but she needed to keep herself together.

She watched as their agents secured the room and the door leading out of it into the manor. Her fingertips were itching for action. She wasn’t the type to sneak around. If all Jack only agreed to take her with them because he knew she would come either way and Angela suggested Emily would need a familiar face.

 

All the horror stories about what Talon did to people they captured, did to Lacroix, decided to be remembered by her just as they opened the door, Jack followed closely by their agents. Lena shuddered, tightening the grip around her pistols, following through the door into a large entrance hall. Doors spreading to each side of the room along the walls, a huge staircase leading up to a gallery, with even more doors. The paint, once a vivid blue, had paled to a greenish grey, splintered in some parts.

 

“DOWN!”

 

The command echoed through their com, Lena blinking behind a column as the others ran to find cover, the golden glow of Angelas wings as she shifted behind a fallen cupboard illuminated the room just enough to see the dark clothed assassins on the gallery before the first shot hit said cupboard, braking the glass of its doors with an ear shattering crash, followed by the sound of rapid fire, bombarding the agents behind their cover.

 

“Tracer, go!”

 

She didn’t need more. Blinking from behind the column she circled the room, taking cover behind each thing she could find, bullets crashing into the old wood, splinters filling the air as their opponents directed their fire at the blue flash.

 

“NOW!”

 

She felt the familiar tugging in her stomach as she jumped back in time, coming out mid blink in front of the stairs, taking two steps at once, hearing the fire of her teammates as they tried to give her cover. A bullet missed her shoulder by a mere inch, too close to her own liking, adrenalin flooding her bloodstream. Reaching the top of the stairs she turned, blinking around the corner of the gallery, her pulse pistols firing rapidly at the assassins, turning their concentrated fire into stray bullets and screams of pain. She cleaned the gallery in a matter of seconds, coming to a halt at the end of it, a trail of groaning bodies behind her.

 

She heard 76 shout some commands into the commlink, saw vague shadows flooding the room, her heartbeat fastening as she realized the situation. They were outnumbered. This couldn’t go wrong! She wouldn’t allow it. A quick glance to her right confirmed that she was alone on the gallery aside from the knocked-out assassins, giving her the perfect position to get behind their backs. Jumping down she landed on her feet, a surprised call being the only response to her assault before the blue fire from her weapons split the concentrated attackers into two groups, a third one joining their mates on the ground.

 

“Lena-“

 

Her head spun around, eyes frantically searching for the source of the voice: “Emily!“ “Tracer! Don’t!” She heard Mercy shouting over the commlink as she turned around, trying to figure out the direction were the sound she so desperately longed for had come from. A man in black came onto her, being struck down by a blue rocket, exploding against his chest, sending him to the ground and Lena stumbling backwards, only barely keeping her balance. She had no time for this. Emily was here! She heard her! She needed to find her and now!

 

The fight around her pushed her towards a wall, both sides were under heavy fire with the Overwatch agents having the high ground since they had a medic at their side.

 

“Lena…”

 

She heard her again, but it seemed to come from every direction as if someone was whispering it behind her head. She turned around, her pistols raised, ready to gun everyone down standing between her and Emily. But she was only met with two more of Talons hirelings, pointing their guns at her. Blinking behind them, hearing their bullets hit their allies, she turned mid-air, aiming at their backs. Two more down, her heartbeat slowing down, the fight around her becoming not more than a buzzing behind her ears. She closed her eyes for a second, the map of the manor behind her eyelids clear as day.

 

A scream and shouting pulled her back, seeing a flash of gold rise to the ceiling before plummeting to the ground, Lena only barely recognizing the broken wing at Angelas back. The sight pulling her back from the voice, away from the map. She had to be quick, running up the stairs, taking the jump, her left foot leaving the ground, using a half-broken column as steppingstone, changing her direction. Her arms wrapped around Mercys waist, pulling her with her, landing back on the stairs, two meters above ground. A pained groan and gasp as Mercy sat up was enough proof for her that she was alive.  
“You alright?” “Will be-“ Mercy sighted, her shattered wings being released from their mounting device, falling to the ground: “Painful but unhurt.” “Good” Pulling her farther up the stairs, she leaned her against the wall, scanning the battle beneath them, while Mercy flexed her wrist. They were slowly gaining the upper hand but only if no reinforcements were on their way.

 

“I need to find her” Lena got up, tightening the leather straps of her accelerator. “Don’t-“ Mercy grabbed her wrist, keeping her back from running off: “It’s dangerous, you need to stay with the-“ “Emily could be here! Hurt! Alone!” Lena freed herself from Mercys grip: “I can’t wait!”   


She heard Mercy call after her as she ran down the stairs, past the chaos of the battle, opening the first door to her left, finding herself in some kind of a kitchen. As she reached the door on the other side it flew open, three Talon assassins coming towards her, judging by their surprised looks on their faces they were not expecting someone to be already in this room. Sliding past the first one, Lena knocked him out cold as the back of her weapon hit his temple. She sent the second one flying, kicking him against the wall. A loud bang and a sharp pain send her tumbling to the ground, her ears ringing from the gunshot, blood dripping from her cheek, running down her face. She saw the silhouette of the man standing over her, the barrel of his gun pointed at her device.

 

The sound of shots being fired filled the kitchen, the chest of the man above her exploding in a rain of red, Lena turning away, staggering to her feet, shaking her head, searching for her rescuer. “GO!” 76 shouted at her from the other side of the room, turning his back towards her, firing into the entrance hall. He didn’t need to tell her twice.

 

The wooden floor creaked with each step she took, flinging doors open only to stare into empty, dust filled rooms. She heard screams, shots and running behind her for a while until it was replaced with silence. Her heart stopped for a terribly long second until the commlink cracked, 76 conveying his commands. Three were down, Mercy was fine and treating them and they were to continue to sweep the perimeter. Lena stopped listening after that. She heard the agents behind and above her, their heavy steps whirling clouds of old dust up into the air. Not right. Wherever they took Emily there couldn’t be so much dust.

 

She found herself in a dark corridor after a few turns, the mansion being build with hundreds of small rooms. It was the first one after long not completely covered in dust, the floor displaying clear signs of people walking, paintings on the walls had been removed to hang up jackets on hooks or had ben doodled on.

 

A door to her right opened with a creak as she pushed against it, revealing an old staircase to another floor instead of another dust filled room. Her heart fluttered behind the humming device, something telling her that Emily was close. It took her all her willpower to not run up the stairs and burst into the room or floor or whatever was at the end of it. Tightening her grip around her pistols, raising them, ready to use them, she started walking up the stairs. Her jaw clenched as she approached a door, judging by the number of steps two floors up. Closed but not locked. She fought down every feeling of hope and fear, locking them at the back of her head, before opening the door.

 

The room behind it was filled with the dim light of two candles and the flickering light of a laptop and a pink glow she couldn’t quite match a source to. It was more of an attic than a room, going over the full length of the manor apparently. Silently Lena entered the room, leaving the door open in case of the need of a quick escape. Her eyes scanned the room for anything A hint. A sign that she was right. That Emily was here or at least had been. Her amber googles enhancing the little bit of light that was there, coming to rest on a dark bundle at the end of the room. Her heart tightened, recognizing the copper shine as she moved. “Emily-“ she gasped, running across the room, all caution forgotten, blinking through the dark.

 

Coming to a slithering halt she almost threw her pistols aside, kneeling on the wooden floor, bending over the small bundle. Her eyes were closed, hands tied behind her back, but she was breathing. “Emily!” she wrapped her arms around her, pulling her up into a tight embrace, carefully brushing the streaks of copper hair out of her loves face. Her head fell back, her slips slightly parted, revealing dark marks around her throat. Someone had been choking her. Anger rose in her chest as she clenched her jaw, one hand carefully tracing the marks. “Emily-“ she whispered, tightening her embrace, pulling her love closer to her chest, feeling her shoulders slightly rise and fall: “I am so sorry.”

 

“L- Lena?” Emily whispered, opening her eyes, trying to focus. A weak smile appeared on her face as tears filled her eyes: “You’re alive…” she got interrupted by a cough. “Of course I am, luv”, she reached for the ropes holding her loves hands behind her back, a small knife from her pocket gliding through the rough material. The second it fell to the ground, Emily wrapped her arms around her neck, burying her face against Lenas shoulder, heavily sobbing: “I thought you were dead…” she cried, her hands entangling in Lenas hair: “there… there was so much blood. I though they killed you… I…” she broke down, Lenas arms wrapped tight around her, her shoulders shaking under the force of her sobs: “she told me you were dead. That purple woman… never misses… and… I…” she choked, trying to catch her breath: “I was so scared”

“I got you”, Lenas heart threatened to spring from her chest, overflowing with relieve and love: “I’ll get you out of here.”

 

“Well isn’t that just darling?”

 

Lena turned around, grabbing her pistols from the ground, ready to defend what she just found and got back: “Who…?”

“Oh c’mon. You can’t be that dumb.”

Sombra sat on top of a table, a mosaic of purple neon lights in front of her, mimicking screens of computers and diagrams: “Who could it be?”

The holograms died down, one after another, before Sombra got off the table. She felt Emily trembling behind her, pulling at her wrist, searching for something to hold on to.

“What do you want”, Lenas voice was cold. She was so tired of this woman messing up her life and this time she was the one in control.

“Did you still not figure that out?” Sombra snared at her, a grin of gruesome amusement on her lips: “Information.”

 

Lena felt a rage sear through her body, burning every bit of the hero Tracer away, leaving only room for the creature of anger and fear she had become over the past week and this woman in front of her was the cause of all of it: “Did you do this to her?” There was no need to even point at the marks. Sombras grin widened as soon as the first words had left her lips: “Maybe. Though it’s not to my taste.” “Lena-“ she heard a distance voice as her hands clawed around her pistols. A low growl from the back of her throat, full of hatred: “I am going to kill you”

Sombra made a mocking bow: “Try”

 

Lena lunged at her, a raged scream accompanying her attack, firing her pistols at the source of all  her sorrow and pain. “So full of emotions” Sombra disappeared in front of her, only to reappear at the back of the room: “No wonder Overwatch is such a joke!” she snared pulling a machine gun from somewhere. Lena blinked through the storm of bullets, past old furniture, shooting at Sombra. But she was trained by Talon, a trained infiltrator, avoiding her rage filled attack with easy, dodging her shots, using the little time it took the pistols to reload to change her position, lunging another barrage at Lena.

She felt a bullet graze her hip, ripping through the fabric of her leather jacket and the shirt underneath, leaving a burning, bleeding cut behind.

“Too slow”, she appeared behind her, grabbing Sombras hair, yanking it back, pushing the barrel of her pistol into her back, bringing her lips close to Sombras ear: “now you die.”

“And your feelings make you an easy target.” Irritated Lena loosened her grip as Sombra raised her gun, pulling the trigger.

 

“NO!”

 

Lena jumped, blinking across the room. She felt the bullets pierce her arm, shoulder and upper right torso, sending her stumbling backwards to the ground. “LENA!” She felt all strength leaving her body. It took her everything she had, lifting her pistols, pointing them at Sombra, only to get them kicked out of her hands, vanishing somewhere into the darkness.

“Did nobody tell you?” Sombra bend down over her, a smug grin on her face: “Never bring your heart to a gunfight.” Lena wanted to respond, a stinging pain racing through her body, coughing up blood.  
“Oh dear. And I would have settled for your technology.” Sombra grinned, her claw like hands caressing her accelerator, creating displays above it: “But I will take your life and the technology, so hold still. This won’t take long.” Lena moaned as her long clawed fingers pressed down on her device, sending waves of deafening pain through her body. Her vision blurred as a neon pink bar started to fill up, hovering over her chest. If this continued, she would bleed to death.

 

“Em-“ she cought. “Oh. Your little girlfriend? She is alright. I knocked her out when you went down. She’ll be there to mourn your passing.” A beep announced the bar being near to its completion.   
“I’ll be finishing up here. And then you can die in peace.” “No…“ Sombra got up, leaving her on the ground, stepping out of her field of view, the floor creaking under her steps.  
“Emily-“ she groaned, turning around, trying to focus, her eyes finding a shimmer of white under a nearby chair. Her gun. Dragging herself over the floor, she tried to supress any noise, a quick glance showing her Sombras turned back. Reaching out her fingertips brushed against the handle of her gun as a loud beep ripped through the silence.

 

“Aaaand you’re done.” Sombra turned around, her eyes sparkling with dark satisfaction: “No you don’t.” Turning her over with the tip of her boot, Sombra kneeled over her, one knee on her chest, making her scream out in pain: “Thank you for your assistance” she whispered, putting more pressure on her victim. Lena almost blacked out from the pain, her ears ringing, her lungs screaming for air. “I think, I will take this as well-“ the pink haired woman sneered, severing one of the leather straps holding the accelerator in place: “It’s not like you need it anyway.” “I’ll… kill you” Lena coughed, her whole body trembling, lungs aching for air. “Big words. Maybe I’ll just take this now and end your suffering” Sombras long clawed fingers tugged at the accelerator, only held by one remaining strap.

 

“Get _away_ from her!” The pressure vanished, Lena taking a deep, painful breath, coughing up more blood, turning her head. She saw a flame of copper, a blue blazing flash and heard Sombra scream. “What have you _done_?!” she saw her stumble back, her hand bloody, the neon lights from it flickering, then turning black. A loud crash followed by shouting, the shattering of glass and quick steps followed Sombras scream. Fast steps approaching her, something heavy hitting the floor next to her head. Lena felt herself glide into darkness, the thought of Emily facing Sombra keeping her barely conscious. She had to safe her. That’s what she was here for. Someone ran past her, followed by someone kneeling beside her.

 

“Lena!”

 

That was Emilys voice. She was alive. She felt a warm hand around hers, squeezing it, holding on.

 

“Please. Please Lena. Open your eyes. Don’t die! Please!”

 

When did she close them? She had no memory of doing so. She felt something warm and wet on her face. Where those- tears? Don’t cry, Emily. I’m here.

 

“Help her! Please!”

 

She heard her scream. Heard her cry out in pain. Her beautiful, strong goddess. She had such hurt and desperation in her voice. She needed to comfort her. To wipe away those tears. She couldn’t be the reason for her pain. I’ll come back to you. I promise. I’ll be there. I’ll protect you. I’ll be with you.

 

“Lena…”

 

She heard her name again. She whispered it, again and again and again like a spell. It was her anchor. The thing keeping her from just letting her sink down in the darkness.

 

Something surrounded her. Something soft, warm and protecting. The pain slowly grew smaller. Still present but bearable. Lena opened her eyes, finding herself surrounded by a golden glow, Mercy leaning over her, her hands and the hands of two agents pressing down on her wounds as her staff provided her body with nanobots, closing her veins, stopping her from bleeding out. Two tearful hazel eyes looked down on her, surrounded by copper locks, flowing over her shoulders. “Emily-“ Lenas voice was rasp and silent. The single word making her cough blood. “Lena!” Big tears flowed down her face, Emilys hand tightening its grip around Lenas, who returned the squeeze a little weak, the other caressing her cheeks.

 

“Sorry… luv” Lena grinned, before groaning, her face a grimace of pain: “I thought… I could be… the hero you deserved…” Emily chuckled, interrupted by a hearty sob: “You are-” leaning down, placing a soft kiss on her forehead she whispered in her ear: “You are my hero.”

 

~*~

The following two days, Lena didn’t see any of Emily, partly because she went in and out of consciousness, partly because Emilys parents wanted to spend as much time with her daughter as possible. The rational part of Lena could completely understand that, while she was awake. The other part and her dreams during unconsciousness told her that everything Emily had said to her that day, would now come to pass.

 

When Emily hadn’t come to visit the third day in a row, Lena grew restless. Her wounds were healing quick but the loss of blood and a very angry Angela pinned her to her bed. She wished for Emily to come visit her. She had called her multiple times on her phone only to go straight to voice mail. Lena starred at the ceiling, fighting with her emotions, her rational side insisting that she was being stupid and her very emotional side telling her she couldn’t even blame Emily for leaving after the last week. She was starring at the ceiling when the sound of the door opening interrupted her spiral of self-loathing and the desperate try of staying rational.

 

Propping herself up on her elbows, she searched for the source, a relieved smile appearing on her lips as she saw a certain freckled face peek through the door. Emilys eyes filled with joy as she saw Lena more or less upright in her bed: “Lena!” the door flew open as she pushed it, running through the small room, throwing her arms around her: “You are awake! You are fine.” Lena winced at the stormy embrace: “Up till now-“ “Oh sorry sorry sorry.” Emily released her from the tight embrace: “I brought you flowers”, she said, raising a little distraught looking bouquet with an apologetic smile: “Must have squashed them.”

 

Lena felt a huge weight being lifted of her heart.  Raising her hand, slowly reaching out she cupped Emilys cheek, still a little afraid of her pulling away. The feeling of Emily nestling her face against her hand flooded her with relief, warmth and endless love for this person in front of her. Pulling her close she leaned forward, her lips meeting Emilys in a soft kiss, feeling her warmth, tasting the faint flavour of coffee on her lips. She heard Emily hum into the kiss, felt her hands entangled in her hair, her chest raise and fall as she breathed. Her whole body was filled with the feeling of golden sparks as they broke apart, tingling in her chest.

“Lena. You’re crying”

“It’s alright” wiping away her tears she grinned: “I’m alright. Emily…” she searched her gaze, finding her hazel eyes full of warmth and love: “I am so sorry.”

“What for?” Emily sat down on the edge of her bed, a puzzled look on her face.

“This” Lena nodded towards the empty room, filled with medical equipment: “This” a nod to her bandaged body: “This” her eyes darkened as she took Emilys hands in her own, caressing the dark marks of freshly healed wounds the ropes had left on her loves skin, placing a soft kiss on them. “And this”, she raised her hands, her fingers brushing softly against the still bruised skin. She felt Emily shudder under her touch, her eyes showing the fight against the urge of backing away. Weather it being of pain or memories, she could not say.

“It’s my fault…”, she choked, fighting down tears, averting her eyes.

 

“None of this, is you fault.” Emily entangled her fingers with Lenas, her hand caressing her cheek, pulling her face up to find her eyes again: “Lena. I love you.” Her voice was soft, warm and filled with honest affection: “I knew what I was getting into, the moment I fell for you.” She chuckled at Lenas disbelieving look: “Of course I didn’t know that this would happen-“ she swallowed hard, taking a moment to compose herself before continuing: “But I chose you over all of… this” she made a vague gesture encompassing the entire room: “and that includes an occasional kidnapping.”

“Don’t even joke about that”, Lena mumbled but managed a weak smile.

“I won’t, sorry”, Emily murmured leaning towards her, bringing their foreheads together: “You make me so incredibly happy.” She brushed trough Lenas hair: “and I feel safe and strong when I am with you.”

Big tears ran down her face, leaving her helplessly sobbing in Emilys arms: “I though I lost you…”   
“I will always be with you”, Emily placed a kiss on her nose tip. Her hands found their ways back to Lenas face, wiping away the tears: “Whatever may happen and whatever we may face- It will never change, that I love you.” “I love you too.”


End file.
